Advent Day 2

Posted on | by St. John

Monday, December 2, 2024

Isaiah 1:10-20
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Luke 20:1-8

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

I can’t say enough about the importance of prayer, both on an individual level and as a community of faith.

One of the most encouraging experiences as a Christian is to be prayed for by someone else- and not only prayed for but prayed with. When someone prays for you in your presence, something special happens in your heart: you feel warmed and encouraged. There’s a sense of intimacy, both between you and the other person and between you and God.

When I visit with our shut-ins, or with parishioners in hospitals, I never fail to mention to them that we, as a community of faith, as their congregation, are praying for them.

These words are not just empty words. I tell that we are praying for them as an assurance that we care about them, we haven’t forgotten them, and to soothe whatever anxieties they may be feeling at the moment.

I recently underwent hip replacement surgery. Though I was anxious, one of the most comforting feelings I had when I walked into the surgery center was the thought that many were praying for me. That filled me with a confidence that was empowering and calming at the same time. It was almost as if God were singing to me, “Be Not Afraid.”

Knowing that someone is praying for us helps us to release that desire for control and puts it in someone else’s hands. We are so obviously not in control as we listen to people pray for us.

They, not we, are the ones doing the asking, and God, not we, is the one answering the prayer.

In a world where all too often it seems like everyone lives and dies for themselves alone, surely the Christian community must be the one place where all are brothers, all are sisters, and all are friends. It must be the place whee we live for each other, where we care as much about the lives of others as we do our own.

We ARE praying for them. And prayer makes a difference.

Let us pray.

Almighty and eternal God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully accept the prayers of your people, and strengthen us to do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 394)

Welcome to Advent

Posted on | by St. John

Sunday, December 1, 2024

Jeremiah 33:14-16
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36
Psalm 25:1-9

Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;
remember me according to your love
and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.

Psalm 25:6

Welcome to Advent!

Last year at this time I was fully retired with only an occasional Sunday supply responsibility. In order to keep myself engaged with scripture, I undertook the task of writing a reflection on one of the Sunday Lectionary readings, as well as one from the daily lectionary. It was an enriching, albeit exhausting devotional practice.

Everywhere I’ve served I’ve encouraged congregations to take part in a daily devotional during Advent and/or Lent. Parishioners have found it a trying, yet fulfilling exercise. The thought of seeing one’s work in print was also and added incentive for some.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to pull that off at St. John’s this year for a variety of reasons. But I felt challenged to undertake the effort once again on my own, if for nothing else, the idea of continuing my own discipline of daily meditation on the Word of God.

Because of this lengthy introduction, the reflection for this First Sunday is slightly more expansive, but I will try as best as possible to limit myself to five hundred words or less, so as not to bore you. Besides, this year, unlike last, I will have a sermon to prepare for each Sunday, as well as my other weekly or monthly writing assignments.

A couple of other housekeeping notes before launching into the body of my reflection:

  1. There will be a link to each of the readings at the very beginning of the essay. I would encourage you to read them so you can better understand the context. and perhaps use them to springboard thoughts of your own.
  2. Again, the Sunday readings will be from the Revised Common LEctionary, and the daily readings from the Daily Office as found in the Book of Common Prayer, beginning on page 934.
  3. I will on occasion refer to the commemoration for a particular day. My resource for those is Lesser Feasts and Fasts as well as A Great Cloud of Witnesses, the Episcopal Church’s books of commemoration.
  4. A couple of other housekeeping notes before launching into the body of my reflecti

* * *

Since I have chosen to include the Psalm selection only on Sunday, I thought I would focus on our assigned Psalm for this First Sunday of Advent, Psalm 25.

My focus verse (verse six above) is always a source of comfort for me when I recall the wild and crazy days of my youth an young adult years.

Like me, you have probably asked yourself more than once, “how did I survive the many mistakes or lapses in judgement of my younger days to get to where I am now?”

I don’t want to give the impression that i was incorrigible. But the discipline that I have now was nonexistent then, and it was only God’s grace that has forgiven the missteps that I look back on these days with regret.

Though I’ve been connected to a life of faith ever since I can remember, there were times when it was tenuous, and the consequences could have been much worse.

God’s love never wavered, even when my love for God was not what it should or could have been.

As the psalm so appropriately ends, “all the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness.”

And for that we say, Thanks be to God!

Let us pray.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 211)

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Expect Good Things

Posted on | by Gayle Catinella

Another story from my trip with the grandkids

The highlight of the trip was saved until the last day. I found a place called Trammel Park outside Cincinnati, where you could dig fossils and keep them. Anyone who knows a child between the ages of 5 and 8 has bought them a “Future Paleontologist” t-shirt. This park would be the crowning moment of our adventure.

In fact, my grandson told me with sincerity this had been his dream for years, digging fossils. I knew they would be excited. I also knew they would probably be bored. As the discussion about what this experience might be like progressed, it became clear they expected dinosaur bones, preferably large and preferably as part of a fully formed skeleton buried just under the surface of the dirt. In other words, that this would be easy.

Expectations Meet Reality

We arrived, pail of tools and gloves and brushes in hand. We climbed to a place that didn’t look like it had been recently worked. They started randomly clawing at the hard earth and were rather shocked when nothing happened. And then irritated. And then discouraged.

In the meantime, I wandered around picking through the thousands of rocks just laying there to be examined. I found bird skeletons imprinted in rock, sea creatures that had been captured somehow in the rock, all kinds of interesting things. I’d pick it up and show it to them. After affirming me, they would keep digging. You have great eyes Grandma, they would say.

We lasted about an hour. They divided up the few things they found and my ample collection and we headed home. They were satisfied and hot and hungry, so it was a good day.

There are many lessons and metaphors to take from this story. Here is mine: it isn’t that hard to find good things. You just have to look and be open to finding them. There might be some really great things that you don’t find but there is plenty of good out there. Sometimes you have to accept the smaller victories, appreciate the little things. You will essentially find what you expect to find. So expect good things.

Respecting Dignity and Integrity

Posted on | by Gayle Catinella

Last week I was with my grandkids for a few days, and we inevitably found ourselves in a gift shop. There was a spending cap so anxiety was high. They were trying to find the item that cost the most while still having some value to them. They are savvy shoppers.

At one point my 7-year old granddaughter, who loves to shop, came to me in tears. I don’t know what to do Grandma, she said. I want this dinosaur stuffed animal, but girls aren’t supposed to like dinosaurs. Should I get a necklace instead? Or should I be true to myself?

In that moment, I was immensely grateful to Disney for presenting a multitude of female characters who make the choice to be true to themselves. I was also feeling compassion that such a little kid had to make these emotionally exhausting choices, and will for the rest of her life. And finally I was furious at a culture that defines who and what a female is to be, rather than letting her be who she really is. So much packed into that one moment.

I told her that whatever she chose was fine with me, but that I hoped she was always brave enough to be true to herself. That I would always support her in that. She went back and forth several times. This decision was hard for her, she was weighing it carefully. Both items were nice, but what they represented was the issue.

In the end, she chose to be true to herself. And she specifically thanked me for supporting that. And what really broke my heart was at the end of the day, when we were saying the best thing about the day, she said being true to herself was the best thing she did.

It matters. Supporting girls in becoming themselves matters. Empowering women to be who they want to be matters. And frankly empowering boys is also critical. It should not be so hard to live as we are made, to use the gifts we have been given. Society should recognize that whole, fulfilled people make better neighbors.

Let’s pray for all children to have the support and encouragement that they need to become healthy and productive adults on their terms. That we all learn to respect the dignity and integrity of every person. And that we love our neighbors as they are, not as we think they should be.

God Provides

Posted on | by Gayle Catinella

This is why kids need church and the church needs kids:

In July we held our yearly collection for the Taft Elementary Mobile Pantry. During the school year, we purchase good food-vegetables, fruit, meat, selections to make a meal- and deliver them already bagged to families at the school in the most need. This a great system, and really helps people who can’t drive to the school to access healthy food. We work with United Way and First Presbyterian Church, our fantastic community partners.

People are wonderful, and by the end of the month we had what we needed. I never worry about having enough money to feed kids. God always provides that. We care about our neighbors.

But one donation really stood out. One of our young kids, probably about 8 by now, came to the office a few weeks ago. He handed a wad of money to our parish administrator. He told her that he had a lemonade stand and wanted a portion of the proceeds to go to Taft.

What a sweet kid right??

We inspire one another. We provide each other opportunities to be generous. If we pay attention, we see love in action over and over again.

Thank you to everyone who donated. You have made people’s lives better. And a special thank you to that lovely young man who is developing a heart to serve his neighbors by paying attention to his wonderful family and his generous church.

Watch for happy endings!! God provides good things every day.

Blockbuster Weekend

Posted on | by Gayle Catinella

I saw Oppenheimer. The movie was really good, really hard, really long. I thought how ironic it was that several blogs ago I wrote about the bombing in relation to my Uncle, and now I watched its history unfolding.

In the dinner that followed the movie, my companions and I talked about evil, and discernment, and what was justice and what was not. We disagreed about when Oppenheimer realized the true repercussions of what he was doing and how he displayed his discomfort. I thought about how hard it is to make moral and ethical choices in our world, then and now.

Hard Decisions

Most hard decisions are not dualistic, with two clear choices and one that a good person would obviously make. When I said I was a pacificist, how many times has someone said, what would you do if it was your family being hurt? I have always responded that I hoped I would make the right choice in the moment, whatever that seemed to be. You can have standards and grasp that they aren’t always practical. They are called hard decisions for a reason.

But this movie is not about the moment. It is about war, and the horrors of war. It is about genocide and torture and protecting people from the worst of us. This movie is not about a split decision testing your scruples. It is about what you are willing to sacrifice for the good of the whole. And what that sacrifice might ask of each of us.

At What Cost?

Dinner conversation turned to Dietrich Bonhoffer. He was a Lutheran pastor and theologian in the middle of Nazi Germany. He wrote about the cost of discipleship. I have always struggled with his decision to try to assassinate Hitler. He failed of course, and he was killed because of it. I have always thought that the cost of discipleship for him was a willingness to lose his own life, to die for his friends.

But now I am wondering if the cost was his principles. Are there situations of evil potent enough that we have to give up what we hold to be true and just in order to pursue a bigger justice? Just war theory would tell us yes. Maybe I have never had a deep enough compassion to sort that out. I’m not sure what is right.

I come out of the film wondering about my own conviction and what it would take to offer it as a sacrifice. I hope never to be tested like that. But if I am, I pray to be courageous and deeply prayerful in my offering. I pray that God’s will be done.

We Need Each Other

Posted on | by Gayle Catinella

Last week I went to Cleveland to celebrate my granddaughter’s 7th birthday. We were going to start the day by taking a ride on the Cuyahoga Scenic Railway with her brother. The tickets said not to be late, so I was planning to leave in plenty of time. I had a lot to bring with me, so I loaded the car in two trips, readied the backseat for the kids, took out the garbage, and a few other things.

When I was ready to go, I realized my keys were not in my pocket. I looked around, to no avail. I then remembered I had locked the door leading into the house. And to keep this short, other options for getting into the house didn’t work. My neighbor wasn’t home to help me break in. The clock was ticking. So, in desperation, I called the police to help me.

I retraced my steps while I waited for my rescuers, and found the keys almost immediately. I called the police back and said thanks anyway, and I left for Cleveland. I told the kids this story when we were on our way to the railroad and we all laughed.

Later at supper with their parents and aunts and uncles, my grandson asked me if I was going to tell my kids the story of my keys. My granddaughter immediately said, I wouldn’t, too embarrassing. Thanks a lot.

As with most life events, I try to reflect on what I can learn from the moment. My first thought when it happened was that I should have trusted myself. I got anxious because of timed tickets, but I don’t usually misplace my keys. Next time I might breathe more and panic less. But I also need to be open to asking for help. It is not an embarrassment to ask for assistance when I need it, as long as I am giving at least as much as I receive. We need each other.

So maybe there are two lessons for me to ponder-trusting ourselves and trusting our community. Life is hard, often anxiety provoking. Being kind to ourselves is just as important as being kind to others. And heaven knows there are plenty of opportunities to practice! It’s also good to know there are people who will help, and that I can be one of them. We really do need each other.

With Gratitude and Pride

Posted on | by Gayle Catinella

My Mom had one brother, Wayne. He was an architect who lived in Albuquerque. I remember him from my early childhood, coming to visit with his first wife Palmyra, who was the coolest woman I have ever met. He was funky, iconoclastic, totally hip. His sideburns would drive my grandma crazy. But everyone loved him.

He and I wrote letters until he died several years ago. We talked about our lives, our hopes, our family. He never had children and I was the oldest niece, so there was a special bond between us, and I know at least some of my progressive worldview was influenced by my admiration for him.

Wayne was recognized by his community for his generosity and good will. He did architectural work for the indigenous communities in New Mexico, and would send pictures of community centers and tribal buildings that he designed. He had a strong commitment to justice and fairness and equity, long before that was recognized as necessary.

So it is interesting to me that the one fight we had was about dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I knew Wayne was a veteran of the Korean War, but his politics as he expressed them to me seemed to be nonviolent. However, in a letter I wrote when I was in my 20s, where I criticized the use of nuclear weapons, his response was, so to speak, ballistic. I wasn’t prepared for his criticism of me that came with the letter, vehemently shredding my position.

Things cooled between us for a while. Mutual disappointment that we were too far away to easily repair. He married a second wife that I never really liked, and that also put a damper on things. When he died I represented my side of the family at his funeral, and I was sad for many things.  I was surprised to get a call recently from his wife’s sister, informing me she had died and asking if I wanted Wayne’s remaining possessions. In a box she sent I found pictures, some jewelry, and his service flag from the funeral. I knew immediately that I would keep the flag. I sent the rest to my sister. I know what that flag meant to Wayne. He was proud of his service and so am I. We don’t have to agree to share deep appreciation. I will hold up the evidence of his service to our country with gratitude and pride, as he would want me to do.

Detail of a stained glass window in St. John's Episcopal Church, Youngstown, Ohio depicting John holding a quill and scripture showing the words "God is love" (John 4:8).

God Is Always, Always Love

Posted on | by Gayle Catinella

I was told yesterday that I am going to hell. My first thought was …maybe but not for the reason you are thinking. I was at the Pride Festival in Wellesville. In the blistering heat, protesters were gathered across the street to condemn so many things. Among them, that I as a clergy person was leading the queer folk I was standing with and for astray. I am quite sure God is OK with me being there. Being an ally seems to be good and holy work.

One issue might be that the conservative Christian protesters and I have a different vision of hell. I believe in hell, but not as a place of eternal damnation. I believe that hell is a refusal to accept God’s love for us, and for all people. We choose our own hell when we put the world and the sparkly things of the world ahead of God. It never turns out well.

The Good News which I preach is that we can turn that around at any time. God is always inviting us, always calling to us. God is always loving us and delighting in us. God is always, always love. I may have varying abilities to accept that love and difficulty living it, but as long as I believe in it and open my heart to it, I am engaged in God’s heavenly kingdom eternally.

I think in our haste to be right, even in our haste to please God, we forget a few things. We forget that we are each uniquely and lovingly crafted by God in God’s own image. God made us as we are, with all of our gifts and talents and goodness. And God pronounces that creation (us) as very good. We forget that it is God’s business to judge, and we need that in order to be constantly working to be our best selves.  But God judges, not us. We forget that fear and the evil that perpetuates it is always lurking and ready to distract us from God’s love.

So I stood across from the protesters who were shouting harsh judgements about people being who they were created to be. I tried to pray for them, to believe the good that resides in them, and to acknowledge that they also are beloved. But I believe their message is flawed, and that they are not projecting and embodying God’s love as God offers it to us. I accept their judgement of me, but I am not distracted or deterred by it. I stand for God’s acceptance and compassion and love of all people. And I accept the consequences that come with trying to live that in the world. 

Community, Outreach, & Love

Posted on | by Gayle Catinella

I love confirmation class!! You gather a group of people who unapologetically want to be Episcopalians, which warms my heart. And then you get to hear about why church, this church and Jesus matters to them. I keep asking the question why are you doing this just to hear the answers. These are the top 3.

1. Community. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be attached to a group that has similar values (Jesus). They want to be in a place where people are positive, where they can make friends. They experience at St. John’s a community with a lot of really nice, really engaged, really willing people. Not people with all the answers, but people who care about the questions. Who we choose to grow in our faith with is important.

2. Outreach. People understand that God and church is intensely personal, but not just about them. Over and over people lift up the important work we do at St. John’s to be good neighbors, and what it means to them to participate in it. We know that our faith is meant to be shared, we know that God’s generosity to us is meant to be shared. Seeing people care about the world and working to make it better is very inspiring.

3. Love. And here is the most heartening thing for me. Over and over I hear people say they want to be in a place that teaches and offers the love of God. No judgement. Minimal guilt. But a focus on the goodness of people, in God’s delight in us, and in how we take that love out the doors after the services Sunday and give it away. I am deeply moved by people who celebrate God’s love for us. It gives me hope.

The Bishop is coming to confirm and receive these amazing people June 18 at our 10:30 service. I hope you will join us and experience the joy of Christian community!